NBC was ready to give Matt Lauer’s job to Ryan Seacrest last year, if the rumors about Lauer jumping to ABC proved to be true.

According New York Magazine, Lauer — who was growing increasingly frustrated with former co-host Ann Curry — was in talks with ABC about reuniting with Katie Couric for a daytime talk show on ABC.

These television hosts and their networks are worse than a bunch of high schoolers breaking up and going out with each other’s friends.

Lauer reportedly met with Disney CEO Bob Iger, who, like other ABC execs, was eager to unseat “Today” from its spot atop the ratings. ABC supposedly had some serious belief that it would happen.

Ultimately, according to New York Magazine, Lauer used the negotiations to score a two-year, $25 million contract from NBC — the richest-ever deal given to a morning show hosts. That was when NBC decided, since they were paying Lauer all that money, they’d go ahead and dump Curry.

Funny enough, NBC called in research company SmithGeiger to study the show. The company found that Lauer was less appealing than Curry among viewers.

“He was looking aloof, a little bit holier-than-thou, and pompous,” a former NBC executive who viewed the reports told the magazine. “He was becoming Bryant Gumbel.”

Ouch.

NETWORK APOLOGIZES FOR ‘AMAZING RACE’ SEGMENT: CBS has apologized for a segment from an episode of “The Amazing Race” in Vietnam that was filmed at the site of a crashed American B-52.

Host Phil Keoghan opened Sunday’s show by apologizing for “insensitive parts of last week’s episode.”

On Thursday, Vietnam War veteran and American Legion National Commander James E. Koutz sent a letter to CBS, asking for an apology for “its disgraceful slap in the face administered to American war heroes” during the network’s March 17 broadcast of “The Amazing Race.” According to MSN.com, Koutz said in a release “The show is called ‘The Amazing Race,’ but I call it ‘The Amazing Gall.'”

“In a broadcast reminiscent of Tokyo Rose, reality game show contestants visited a ‘B-52 Memorial’ in Vietnam, which featured the wreckage of a B-52 bomber shot down during the war. What wasn’t shown were the U.S. crew members that were killed or the grieving American families that were left behind.” Koutz wrote. “The Department of Defense is encouraging Americans to honor and commemorate our Vietnam War veterans for the sacrifice that they made 50 years ago. We only wish that the network that once gave us Kate Smith — famous for her rendition of ‘God Bless America’ — would return to its great roots and not be so eager to broadcast anti-American propaganda.”

The episode featured contestants going to a B-52 Memorial — the wreckage of an American bomber shot down during the Vietnam War — to find a clue in their televised round-the-world journey.

LINDSAY LOHAN MAY STILL GO TO JAIL: Lindsay Lohan may end up in jail after all.

TMZ reported that there are no lockdown rehab facilities in New York or California that aren’t connected to jail, which means Lohan likely won’t be able to complete her 90-day sentence in rehab she agreed to as part of her plea deal.

Lohan was charged with lying to police after her June car crash on the Pacific Coast Highway in Southern California. Because investigators found alcohol at the scene, prosecutors wanted her back in rehab as part of the deal.

Lohan’s lawyer, Mark Heller, told prosecutors he could get her into a 90-day lockdown rehab center in New York City, where she now lives. TMZ reported that the only such facility is connected to the prison system and requires the patient to have felonies on their record which — miracles of all miracles — Lohan doesn’t have.

Then again, the week just started.

Rehab guru Dr. Drew told TMZ there’s no such facility in California either. “There is no rehab that will hold you against your will, unless they feel the person is a suicide risk, and in that case they can hold the individual for 72 hours.”

Can we export her? North Korea is supposed to be nice this time of year.

Lohan’s apparent problem is that her sentence, technically, is 90 days in jail, which was set aside for the supposed rehab stint. Other rehabs probably aren’t an option, as Lohan has already left two programs before she was done. So if that lockdown rehab doesn’t exist, the only alternative is to send her to the slammer. You know, the big house, up the river, to the pokey, the pen, the iron bar hotel, the …

Sorry. Meanwhile, as prosecutors unravel this mess, Lohan helps her cause tremendously by continuing to drink in public. TMZ said she was spotted doing vodka shots at her Beverly Hills hotel just hours after her sentencing. Last weekend she was spotted in a San Diego club, pounding drinks. Sources close to Lohan told TMZ Lohan still doesn’t believe she has a problem.

Of course she doesn’t.

JARED LETO GETS AN EAR FROM FAN: Jared Leto once received a severed ear from a fan.

Is that some sort of indictment of his music?

In an interview with XFM, the actor and 30 Seconds to Mars frontman said “The fans are an incredibly committed and passionate group of people. Going to a show is kind of like visiting Japan, you expect gifts on your arrival. You get all kinds of wonderful things,” Leto said, before revealing the weirdest thing he’s ever received.

“Someone cut their ear off once and sent it to me, that was very strange. A whole ear. The Van Gogh move. The note just said, ‘Are you listening?’ I never knew who it was, who’s missing their ear out there,” he said. “I poked a hole in it and wore it as a necklace,” Leto supposedly joked, telling fans “Just don’t put your entire body in a case and send it to us.”

The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, the L.A. Fire Department and the insurance company — all of which opened arson investigations — reportedly agree the fire occurred as the result of carelessness.

The fire started Friday morning when the candle accidentally lit the “Twilight” actress’ living room couch on fire. Greene, her boyfriend and her brother, were all sleeping in the West Hollywood condo when it started. One of Green’s two dogs were killed, but there were no other injuries.

At least four neighboring units were significantly damaged from the blaze.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE DOES SHOTS ON TELEVISION: Justin Timberlake got liquored-up and played miniature golf on television.

Minus the television part, that sounds a lot like high school for some of us.

Timberlake appeared on the U.K.’s “Jonathan Ross Show,” where the topic of Timberlake’s new signature brand of spirits, 901 Tequila, came up. While Timberlake described going to Mexico and visiting where the tequila was processed, Ross pulled out two shot glasses and the pair — in the course of 10 minutes — mixed five shots of tequila each with a three-hole round of onstage mini golf.

“Are you serious?” the singer asks by the time Ross poured their fifth shot.

At one point, Timberlake toasted what could be “the last Jonathan Ross Show ever.”

Tuesday is March 26, the 85th day of 2013. There are 280 days left in the year.

1812: An earthquake devastated Caracas, Venezuela, causing an estimated 26,000 deaths, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

1827: Composer Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna.

1917: The Seattle Metropolitans became the first U.S. team to win the Stanley Cup as they defeated the Montreal Canadiens.

1958: The U.S. Army launched America’s third successful satellite, Explorer 3.

1962: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Baker v. Carr, gave federal courts the power to order reapportionment of states’ legislative districts.

1979: A peace treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (men-AH’-kem BAY’-gihn) and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and witnessed by President Jimmy Carter at the White House. In 1982, groundbreaking ceremonies took place in Washington D.C., for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

1997: The bodies of 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate techno-religious cult who’d committed suicide were found inside a rented mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.

2003: The Senate approved a $2.2 trillion budget that provided less than half the $726 billion in tax cuts President George W. Bush wanted. Former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan died in Washington D.C., at age 76.

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